EDIT: So obviously the 2009 Entertainment Book is no longer available, however you can get the newest version here!

So Budget Busters is going to be a new series where I explain ways to save money while spending money: coupon, lowering your utility bills, trading items instead of buying them new, stuff like that. This first one covered the new Entertainment 2009 Coupon Book that basically has the following pros & cons:

Pros

Comes with $20,000+ in coupons.

You can look at the coupons in your area’s book before you get it! This is a huge bonus and that I think some people overlook. You essentially know exactly what you’re getting upfront.

Many of the coupons can only be found in this booklet and are worth more than most circular coupons. (free entree instead of only an appetizer, etc)

Each book is area specific (mine is for the D.C. region only), so around half of the coupons are for locally owned and small stores.

Coupons expire on Nov 1, 2009 at the earliest, so you have almost a year to use them.

Cons

Costs between $16-20, but comes with free shipping.

Some of the coupons for on-line retailers can be found by Googling.

Most restaurant coupons are BOGO, so it’s not that great for a single person.

I gave an example in the video of how I ate at my favorite Mexican hole in the wall recently for my birthday and used a BOGO coupon for a free $10 entree. That’s already half of the cost it took to purchase the coupon booklet and after I use the second BOGO coupon in a few months, I’ll have recouped the price of purchase. After that, every time I use one of the other hundreds of coupons, it’s like free money.

So at the very least, check out your region’s Entertainment 2009 Coupon Book and see if the coupons in your area interest you! If so, order a book while it’s still on sale for 30% off WITH free shipping!

I also announced the winner of the $50 Target gift card, which was Deem2. Thank you to everyone who participated and if you’re now following me on Twitter, send me a message and I’ll gladly reply!

There’s also one last hidden clue in the video about something else coming up, but I can’t say anything more about that 😀

About Goob

A world renowned slalom skier, fluent speaker of 14 languages, and freebie hunter. Only one of those is true, but it makes my biography look much fuller. In my spare time I enjoy launching my own space program and disproving the Coriolis effect.

All three links keep sending me to a free iphone too. It opens to this site… http://mygiftresource.com/ Who knows, maybe I need to run my anti-virus program. I just googled the name and found it anyhow.

I remember the coupons expiring on Nov.1 as well. Once you buy next years(maybe in Sept, you can use them right away and that gives you over a year to use them up. In my family we even traded them as my Mom would give us all a book for Chrismtmas. I don’t get the book now in Vero Beach FL as all the coupons are for an area about an hour away. I got one last year and I only used the 5 of Publix. What a waste of a gift, if you can’t at least earn your(or the… Read more »

Thanks, Goob – great video! I love these coupon books, but haven’t bought one in years because we lived in a remote area for awhile, where we wouldn’t have been able to use anything. I think the best thing about the coupon book, even better than the saving money part, believe it or not, is discovering little hole-in-the-wall places that you would never know about otherwise. Thanks again for reminding me about these books; I’m ordering mine today. 😀

Wow, the first time I got an Entertainment book was about 15 years ago…and I get way more than 6 times the price in savings every year. I live in Toronto so there’s a ton of great things to do with the various attractions and restaurants. Still, I end up giving away coupons to friends and my sister because I just can’t use them all and there’s stuff that friends want that I’ll never use. Well worth it. (Just make sure to keep it handy…at the end of the year, I’m always scrambling to use the best of the coupons… Read more »

These are geat for ski coupons. They have better deals than the $10 “Gems Card” in many cases, for places like Loveland, WinterPark, Copper, and others. Some have blackout dates, but many don’t. Even if all you use the Entertainment book for is for skiing, it’s worth buying.

I signed up for the Entertainment book 20yrs ago and got the Lifetime membership $76.00 But I don’t think it’s offered any more. Also, the coupons expire on Nov. 1 and the send the new book about a month in advance.

I bought one of these last december and have already been using it a lot. What I did was buy it in a local bookstore so that I could check it out to see if the book was worth while. And if it is I would by it in a store like borders where you can find a coupon of 20-40% off. Great savings towards getting savings!

I also wanted to say that sometimes I do split the cost of these types of books (they also have the “KidStuff” coupon book as a fundraiser for my son’s school) with my mom or other relatives. Makes it much more with it.

Yo one always needs a good excuse to bust through a huge stack o pillows! I’ve really always gone back and forth on the Entertainment Book. Not sure I use it enough to recoup the value. Also, it might incite me to go out to eat when I wouldn’t have normally. Only one thing – might want to turn up the sound output a bit. I had my volume all the way up on Youtube and my laptop and it still sounded low. Then again, my husband decided to play with the cats while I was listening… (Goob: Yeah, sorry… Read more »

Grrr. I used to sell these as a little school girl. This may be just the edge to my BUYING one though. I am bummed at the idea that my local book is $30 on sale. Why oh why is Sacramento more that DC? Have to see if my tax check comes this week.

Thanks for the more in-depth info!

(Goob: I think the price might be based on the total value of coupons inside. So while my book had $20,000+ in coupons, the Sacramento might have $25,000+.)

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